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Today’s sermon in the Book of Acts-Activating God’s People series is from Acts 15:22-41, and is entitled Navigating Agreement and Disagreement.
Pastor Doug illustrated that life is full of Disagreements on all sorts of things and covers every segment of relationships. He observed that in today’s verses the Disagreement is between those believing in Salvation by Grace in Jesus with those believing obedience to the Law of Moses plus Grace was required.
He shared that Unity is expensive and is costly but worth it. Agreement costs us due to any private agendas. God treasures Agreement. Paul and Barnabas were representatives of Agreement and were sent to deliver Unity. Pastor Doug shared that Paul wrote more about Unity than any other topic in his New Testament books. Agreement with the Lord unlocks His power in our lives.
Pastor Craig opened today’s sermon entitled Opposition Rising: Council of Jerusalem as part of our ongoing series in the Book of Acts and Activating God’s People. Today he teaches from Chapter 15:1-21.
In today’s Chapter 15 there is a debate between those of the Jewish faith and Gentile converts, and the role of circumcision as it related to Salvation. Pastor Craig also emphasized the role of Opposition in the Book of Acts. He reminded everyone that every time there’s a move of the Spirit there will be opposition.
Pastor Craig defined the Jewish advocate who followed God’s Grace and work/human effort as Judaizers. He shared that Paul and Barnabas were part of the first church meeting. They defended that the belief of the Judaizers wasn’t required. Peter shared that the yoke the Judaizers advocated wasn’t fulfilled and/or lived out by Jews so why expect the Gentiles to follow the requirement? The Apostle James concluded the debate discussion, siding with Paul and Peter.
Pastor Doug shared today’s sermon from Acts 14:1-28 in the Book of Acts in our series Activating God’s People titled “Transforming Adversity.”
We’re called to be ambassadors of Jesus to a world full of pain as we see it unfold in today’s verses with Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas trusted God in their adversity, which encouraged them to continue engaging it. They chose to celebrate their adversity. God empowers us more when we engage our adversity.
Pastor Doug emphasized how Paul and Barnabas engaged their adversity without complaining. They didn’t press the eject button, instead they responded to adversity by returning to the villages where the persecution originated. They focused on God’s calling.
Pastor Doug shared that “in adversity God looks to see how you react: is it toward Him or away from Him? Is He your source of strength within the adversity you experience?”
Pastor Craig opened today’s sermon from Acts 13:13-52 entitling it ‘The Mission’ from our ongoing series Activating God’s People in the Book of Acts. Pastor Craig emphasized that today’s sermon message isn’t just about Paul’s Mission, but instead it’s about THE MISSION. Our lives have a part in THE MISSION as much as it was with Paul. We’re called to KNOW GOD and to make Him known to the people in our lives.
When Paul encountered Jesus, he was activated into his MISSION. Pastor Craig shared that often we may miss our MISSION because our focus isn’t sufficiently on KNOWING God. If we don’t KNOW Him, we can’t GO on MISSION for Him. Pastor Craig pointed out that our MISSION is very unique to our lives but everyone’s MISSION is to KNOW and MAKE Him KNOWN to others. Pastor Craig shared that OPPOSITION will always be present while we engage our MISSION.